Making Maths Fun
No, no, no, you haven't read this wrong. Maths can be fun!
There are lots of ways to make maths part of play, often without your children even realising! Maths is about counting, adding and subtracting of course, but it's also about strategic thinking, problem solving and analysing.
Try some of these games in the Jollys range to help you and your child to have fun with maths -
Maths fun for preschoolers -
Orchard Toys Insey Winsey Spider is a counting and shapes game for 3 to 6 year olds with two educational games in one. The aim is to be the first to move your Insey Winsey spider up the drainpipe before it starts to rain. Great for family game-playing and for maths learning on different levels: younger and older siblings can enjoy this together.
London Buses Layer Puzzle is a beautifully made in wood and consists of 5 different sized coloured buses which fit into a chunky wooden tray. Children have to get the sizes right for each bus to fit in! Ideal for learning to count and for developing spacial awareness, shape and size.
Other tips for helping young children to learn about maths...
- Introduce counting into every day life, like counting the steps up the stairs to bed, counting the number of peas on the dinner plate or counting how many toes on each foot as you get dressed
- Create patterns with everyday objects or during colouring activities to encourage pattern recognition
- Create simple sums as part of play; place 5 cars and take some away, or add some extra and talk through addition and subtraction. Ask your child to add or remove some for you to solve a sum too
Maths fun for 5 to 7 year olds -
Dinosaur Dinners is a fun game of strategy. Draw a straight line between the dinosaur and its food... but remember no lines can cross and each box can only have one line in it. This game is great for encouraging strategic thinking and problem solving.
My First Money Snap! Card Game is a unique deck of cards lets you play Snap or Pairs using images of coins from 1p to £2. Helps children to recognise numbers and coins quickly. A fun, competitive game!
Make Your Own Bead Jewellery is a small and simple set of assorted wooden beads with string to create a necklace or bracelet. A creative activity which also doubles as a fun way to create and learn about patterns.
Maths learning for 7 year olds and above -
BrainBox Maths is crammed full of concepts taught in Key Stage 2 in England and Wales. Developed by a primary school teacher, this game strikes a great balance between fun and learning. The object of the game is to study a maths fact-packed card for 10 seconds and then answer a question based on the roll of a die. Can be played on your own or as a group.
Math Magic is a fun way for children aged 8 years and over to develop maths and science skills with a magical twist. Learn how to read minds, astonish friends with speed calculations, amaze with different funny math tricks and play the specially design maths memo card game!
Square Up! Shake the shaker, slide the sliders, flip the frame to win the game. This is a furiously fast family game that has players racing each other to re-create the shaker image within the 9 inner tiles. Great for pattern recognition and strategic thinking!
Jollys has many more Maths games to offer. Check out the range here!